Chapter 13

Alan did his best to steady his hands. Merlin!? THE MERLIN? What in the hell was going on? Was there truth in almost all of the old legends? Laughing hesitantly, Alan looked closer at the man. Okay, maybe there was a ... little resemblance to the man of legend.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Alan started out, “you’re The Merlin? King Arthur? Camelot and the Round Table? All of that?”

“Well yes, is there another magic user on earth called Merlin?” The man smirked, though it was hard to tell with the long growth of beard he had.

Alan stopped and turned toward Hopix, “I thought you said that the earth now has a dampening effect on all magic users? That was the reason I couldn’t...”

“A dampening effect? Only on magic users?” The man was saying as he tried to sit up, still stiff from not having moved in over a thousand years. “Sounds suspiciously like what happened in my time. That bitch Morgan le Fay was learning magic at an alarming rate. I found out later that she was seduced by promises of the dark council.”

Alan had stopped for a moment, causing Merlin to turn and see the look of pain and great distrust on Alan’s face.

“Ah, I see that you are well acquainted with them! A real nasty lot for sure.” Merlin stared at Alan harder a moment longer, then nodded. “So you know how properly to deal with them, I see. And the fact that you caught them in a lie, and used that against them, was genius, my boy. Though I would caution you not to do it too often—they always seem to find a way to turn the tables on you. I know for a fact, as you can see. Oh yes, this was their work.”

The whole time Alan was taking in every word the man was saying, he realized the man had been at this far longer than he had and with less power to boot! “I’ve been told you came here a very long time ago,” Alan told the man. “As outnumbered as you were, you’d think that the white council would have helped.”

Here, the man lowered his head. “I’m afraid that they didn’t know at the time ‘til it was almost too late. By the time they placed me in the chamber, the planet was already in the hands of the dark council. I am afraid it was all they could do. Had they taken me, they would have been in violation of their own rules they set down.”

Alan could only smile. He was really starting to like this man! He’d kept the council in the dark. Hell yeah, Alan had to learn how to do that. Maybe then the assholes wouldn’t do that to him again.

Merlin could only smile. He could almost see the thoughts that the younger man had going through his head. It might be good to teach the man some of his tricks. Might make his job easier and a lot more fun, that’s for sure!

“So, my good man, though almost all the pain is gone, I still can’t walk, bum leg and all.” Merlin informed Alan. Alan nodded and started back healing the leg. Within minutes, the man was almost whole again. Standing, the man patted Alan on the back, “Thank you, my good man. Now,” Merlin slapped his hands together, rubbing them. “It’s time to get back to work!”

Alan passed a hand over Merlin, effectively freezing the man. “I think not, Merlin; I just brought you back from near death. I’m not about to let you tempt fate again, okay? Stay here for a bit. I’ll go kill a few, then we’ll talk, okay?”

“You’re a damn sure-fire, cocky bastard, aren’t you?” Merlin spat at Alan.

Alan stopped a moment, then turned to Merlin with a huge smile on his face. “Yes, you might say that. I have to be, or I’d most definitely be dead right now. Just stay here and rest. You haven’t been out there in a very long time. The little I have done today has barely affected the balance on this world.” Alan walked up to Merlin and with a deadly serious look told the older man, “I damn sure intend to change that!”

Merlin watched as Alan walked away, a wide smile crossing his face. So it was true! The one had finally been born and arrived. Sighing, Merlin sat down. If the man actually could kill a few more, then they had a chance. With the removal of the weakest twelve plus their apprentices, Alan might not feel a difference but he most definitely could.

Alan and Hopix exited the underground cavern. Alan stood there a moment, wondering who he should go after.

“Hey, asshole!” Alan heard from behind him, again?! A fireball bounced off his shield.

Well, that solved that problem. “Okay, here’s the deal: you can leave or stay and die! Your choice.” Alan could feel another what? 20? 30? They too felt as pathetic as those before. Must have sent their apprentices again. Shaking his head, Alan just extended his arm, then lifted it. Might as well see who he was killing. As the 30 bodies flailed about in the air, Alan again repeated his earlier warning. “Same deal, stay and die. Well?”

All of the 30 began to spit and curse at him in several languages. Nodding with a sigh, Alan closed his hand and all 30 popped out of existence. The one that had fired at Alan started to blubber and scurry away. Alan made a slashing motion and the last dropped dead. “Damn it! The pansies are sending their apprentices out after me. They obviously think I am like Merlin and am weakening. I put the remaining 87 of you on notice—I am coming for you! Don’t...” Alan started when there were several bolts of electricity that hit his shield. About time! Alan thought.

“You wanted us, asshole, we’re here. Think you can take all of us? We aren’t the weak pathetic creatures you have faced before,” came a voice behind a hill.

“So are we going to see each other? Or are you going to hide? I actually like to see who the hell I kill when I eradicate pure evil!” Alan said as he made a flattening motion and the hill was as flat as the land around it. Behind it were several slimy orange blobs and a few creatures that reminded Alan of piranhas walking on two legs.

“Ha, you are so dead! We are nothing compared to our parents!” one of the orange blobs spat at Alan.

“Good! I am tired of dealing with weak examples of those that are in power here!” With that, Alan waved a hand, and the ten in front of him simply screamed and then vanished into dust. Damn! Alan thought, even when they are dead they are dirtying up the place! Alan heard a gasp, then he felt Hopix’s power skyrocket. Suddenly there was a scream, and Hopix was rushing to his side.

“I ... I ... killed one, Alan. Oh god! I think I am going to be sick!” Hopix said when she reached him. Really? With all that they had been through, and she wasn’t upset until she killed one? Shaking his head, Alan looked out at all the places he could feel the others hiding.

“Ok, same deal as before, as always. You leave, you live; stay here and get slaughtered. There are only nineteen of you left. I took out ten of you easily; you nineteen really think you are strong enough to defeat me? As I said, leave and live; stay and, well ... you’ll be dead soon, so I guess it doesn’t matter. I’ll give you a minute, that’s all.” Alan didn’t really expect them to give up, but he was always fair. He had to give them a chance.

A few moments later, all nineteen advanced on Alan, firing a variety of different bolts, waves, and yes—sigh—fireballs. Alan could only smirk when he really didn’t even feel them hitting his shield. Well, he gave them a chance.

Slashing at his throat, eight fell, bleeding from their throats. Undaunted, the others renewed their attacks. Sighing at how stupid they were, Alan crushed another five, watching the others walk over the screaming corpses. The last six were definitely in a higher class of mage; smiling, Alan threw several knife-shaped bolts at all five. After four of the remaining six went down, Alan nodded, so these weren’t just weak ones anymore. Good!

“I see we are found out, no matter,” one of the last two said. “Now feel true power!” With that, a huge bolt of ice and frigid cold struck his shield. On the other side, a huge wave of water fell on his shield, freezing solid in a mere second. Alan nodded. Not bad, he was near 1/2 power, barely enough for his power to grow a little. Smiling, though, they didn’t need to know that.

Outside, the water user was laughing. “He’ll never escape that! No one freezes as deeply as you! He’ll be dead long...” There was a slight cracking sound, then the ice exploded outward, sending thousands of razor-sharp shards away from Alan.

The water user screamed and tried to flash out but was caught by a thousand or more of the shards as they shredded part of his chest and the rest of the right side of his body. The ice wielder just smiled as he absorbed the ice that flew at him. So this was no wimp—they had sent an actual mage, not a fake like the last one he’d nearly killed. Good, it would actually be a challenge! Flashing out before Alan had a clear line of sight on him, Alan cursed when he saw that the last one had gotten away.

Hopix curled up next to Alan, tears falling from her eyes. Looking at her, he held her close and waited. He knew they should be alone before long; they always were. It seemed that as a byproduct of defeating them, the slaves they had held onto were brought to where he was. Sure enough, a few minutes later, a rather large mass of dazed and confused Lobrits appeared.

Alan waved both of his arms, creating a small city that had once stood here, and then came the process of clearing them, though as he’d thought before, it was getting easier to do larger and larger groups. Alan could see that there were about 5,000—almost twice what he’d done last time. Reaching out, he did the first thousand with no problem, the same with the second and third thousand. He was halfway through the last 2,000 when he began to find those who refused the freedom he offered. He was already at 150, and the number was starting to climb.

“Damn it! Hopix, this is going to take longer than I want to. I’m already at over 200 that want to remain a slave to these assholes!” Alan told Hopix with an exasperated sigh.

Once he hit 500, he shook his head and sent a shock wave out through those that were left. Well over half of those left fell, jerking and shrieking. Alan cleared the rest and sent them to the rest of those in the city. In all, Alan counted 988 that had refused to let go and accept freedom.

Alan was suddenly tired, tired of fighting these assholes, tired of no life—hell, he was just tired of being tired! Looking around, Alan started to send those who were there on the ground to other areas.

Looking at Hopix, Alan nodded that he was done. Hopix could see the bone weariness in his eyes; they had been at this for over a month now almost nonstop. Even she had to admit she was starting to grow weary with the constant fighting, hiding, and freeing of different worlds. When it was her world, she had been tireless; now she was just weary.